


last one fast one

by twogoodthings



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, F/F, Light Angst, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship, Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22698055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twogoodthings/pseuds/twogoodthings
Summary: Waverly has just started her last year of high school and she can't wait for it to be over so she can finally get away from her hometown. However, as a new teacher starts teaching at her school, her determination might just falter. What will come of these unconventional feelings between two people who definitely should not have feelings for each other?(More tags will be added as the story progresses.)
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 36
Kudos: 169





	1. chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfiction I'm publishing, ever. I've tried writing in the past but ultimately have gotten stuck, so as I'm actually posting this one I hope it'll provide enough motivation for me. Please don't hesitate to throw any criticism my way, I do want to get better after all.
> 
> I will try to post weekly, maybe not exactly on the same day, but at least once a week. This may cause chapters to be more than seven days apart sometimes but yeah, I unfortunately have other things in life to do. I'll do my best though :)
> 
> I don't know how long I plan on making this fic, but I at least have a somewhat defined end in mind. One of my pet peeves regarding fanfiction is when people don't know when to end their fic and just keep writing forever essentially, so I'll make sure that doesn't happen here.
> 
> Just a small disclaimer: I do NOT condone student-teacher relationships. This is just an idea I got from reading such an AU and I wanted to improve on it/do my own take on it/make it more "realistic".
> 
> If you enjoy this fic, please don't hesitate to kudos or comment on it as it provides me with further motivation to continue writing and improve my work. Thank you!

This was it. The first day of the last year of high school. Waverly could almost not believe it. In one year she would officially be out of this hellhole and poor excuse of a town and onto greater things at university. She just had to get through her last year and that was it, no more Purgatory.

“Babygirl, you ready to leave?”

Waverly was snapped out of her thoughts by Wynonna making her way down the stairs. She had barely touched her breakfast, her nerves getting the better of her. Wynonna gave her a small smile as she walked towards the hallway. Waverly stood up, quickly putting away the rest of her food before heading after her sister.

“Last year, huh? Damn, feels like yesterday I was in high school,” Wynonna said as she opened the door to the car.

“You rarely ever went to school and barely graduated,” Waverly scoffed. “And that was six years ago.”

“Still feels like yesterday, and you’re making me feel old,” Wynonna retorted playfully.

Waverly just rolled her eyes, effectively ending the conversation and choosing instead to stare out the window as she sat in the passenger seat. The drive to school wasn’t very far, only about 10 minutes, but as Wynonna worked at the local bar mostly in the evenings, she had no issue driving Waverly to and from school most days.

As they arrived in the school parking lot, many students had already arrived and were walking towards the school building. Waverly sighed, said a quick goodbye to Wynonna and jumped out of the car. Just as Wynonna started to drive away, she heard a familiar and welcome voice behind her.

“Waves! Hey!”

Chrissy, who she had been friends with ever since kindergarten, hurriedly walked towards her. As she came closer she raised her arms in a hug, and Waverly returned the embrace.

“Hi Chrissy!” Waverly almost squealed, happy to see her friend.

“It’s so good to see you! God, it’s our final year. I can’t believe it!”

“Yeah me too,” Waverly stepped back from Chrissy and gave her a big smile. “Now let’s go inside.”

Chrissy nodded excitedly and linked her arm with Waverly as they joined everyone else heading towards the school building. The building itself looked as it always had and probably always would, with no major repairs or touch-ups having been done since it was newly built almost 60 years ago. _Small town, small budget_ , Waverly thought as they headed inside.

* * *

The first day was fairly anticlimactic for being the first day of the last year of high school. They got their schedules and heard the principal give a speech in the auditorium about how great the year was going to be, like every year was going to be, and then they went home.

With only having spent half a day in school, Waverly had tonnes of time to kill and so the most logical thing to do was to go to Shorty’s, where not only Wynonna but also her aunt Gus worked. The time of day was noticeable as she entered the bar, the only other people there except the working staff being the town drunks at their regular seats. The bell chimed over her head as she entered, which caused her aunt to show in the doorway to the kitchen just a few seconds later.

“Oh hello Waverly, didn’t expect to see you here. How was your first day?”

Her aunt was like a mother figure to her and Wynonna. With their real mom leaving them when Waverly was only three, Gus quickly filled the void that was left after.

“It was fine, nothing special. Tomorrow we start for real though.”

“Are you taking a lot of classes this year? Or are you taking it easy?”

“I’m taking as many classes as I can for the credits and it also looks good for my application to university.” Waverly shrugged as she answered, trying to appear casual about it. Comparing her schedule to Chrissy’s made her heart sink in her chest as Chrissy had way more free time than she had, but she had chosen it for herself so she couldn’t really complain about it.

“Well good for you Waverly, just make sure you’re not too stressed out, okay?” Her aunt gave her a reassuring smile.

“Yeah it’s fine,” Waverly smiled back and settled on one of the barstools, bringing out a book from her backpack to read. Wynonna was most likely still sleeping as she did during the day, which meant that she wouldn’t see any texts Waverly sent her. That meant that she just had to wait until her sister was ready to pick her up, unless she wanted to walk the almost 10 km home.

* * *

Two hours after Waverly had arrived at Shorty’s, Wynonna came and picked her up.

“Sorry, baby girl, but you could’ve just called me if you wanted me to pick you up earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it, I enjoyed some time here reading and talking to Gus, so it’s all good,” Waverly reassured her sister. “Besides, it’s important that you get enough sleep if you’re going to be up late tonight again.”

Waverly knew that even though the bar closed at 12 am on weekdays, Wynonna would stay up at least a few hours more to watch a movie or drink whisky. Her sister didn’t exactly have the healthiest of habits, and the least she could do was make sure she got enough rest.

“I’m always up late, Waves, so it’s no biggie. If you want me to pick you up I’d be happy to.”

“Right.” Waverly highly doubted that her sister thought so highly of essentially being her chauffeur but she would let it go for now. “Well, let’s head home then.”

They barely made it back to the homestead before Wynonna had to go back to Shorty’s for her evening shift, which meant that Waverly got the rest of the afternoon and evening to herself. This was quite the common occurrence as Wynonna worked the evening shift often. Waverly didn’t necessarily mind; she would cook enough dinner for herself and for Wynonna to eat when she came home and then she would either read or watch episodes of some series until it was time for bed.

Though today Waverly was restless. In a way she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come, so the day after tomorrow would come faster, and so the day after that would come faster and so finally graduation would come faster. The year had barely started and she already felt like it was too long. Feeling like time was passing slower than ever, Waverly went to bed at 9 pm just hoping she could sleep away at least a few of the many hours she had left of this year.

* * *

_I really need to change my alarm signal_ , Waverly thought as the alarm went blaring at full volume. Quickly turning it off as to hopefully not wake Wynonna too early, Waverly got up from her bed and made her way to the bathroom to get ready. Her morning routine did not take that long, and within the hour Waverly was on her way to Wynonna’s room to wake her up.

“Wynonna, time to get up,” Waverly said as she knocked on her sister’s bedroom door. When she didn’t get an answer, she opened the door to peek in but quickly slammed it shut once she got a look inside. “Oh my god!”

From inside the room Waverly could hear grunts and Wynonna scrambling to put on clothes before she emerged a minute later with a smug look on her face.

“You can at least hint in some way that you’ve got company,” Waverly said as she felt her cheeks flush.

“Or you can give me more than five seconds to answer before you come barging in,” Wynonna said, winking towards her sister jokingly.

“Ugh I can’t believe you.” Waverly turned away from Wynonna and quickly started walking towards the door. “Now hurry up or I’ll be late,” she continued as she paced out the door and towards the car.

Wynonna just laughed as she made her way after Waverly. “Don’t be so embarrassed, it’s like you’ve never seen someone else naked before.”

Waverly could feel her cheeks burning up from embarrassment. “Shut up,” she managed as Wynonna just kept laughing at her all the way to school.

* * *

Waverly’s first class of the day was one of her favorites: history, or more specifically European history. Looking at her timetable she didn’t recognize the teacher’s name, which was strange since the school didn’t exactly get new teachers very often. She shrugged it off, hoping that this teacher would like her as much as the others did. She wouldn’t necessarily call herself a teacher’s pet, but being on a teacher’s good side was never bad thing.

Only a few other students had made it into the classroom before her, which gave her the perfect opportunity to snag her favorite seat in the front row. _Not that anyone else wanted it anyways_. Waverly sat down in her chair and as to pass the time before the teacher came and ultimately class would start, she started neatly placing her notebook and pencils on the desk, arranging and rearranging them aimlessly.

After what seemed like way too long, the new teacher waltzed into the classroom, carrying a bunch of papers and books in her arms. Waverly couldn’t help but stare, as the tall, redheaded woman walked towards the teacher’s desk and put her items down with a gentle thud.

“Hello everyone,” the teacher started as she turned towards the class. “Settle down please so we can get started.”

Most people had just been silently staring at her as she had entered the room, some muttering and whispering in between themselves, and her slight discomfort was evident. Everyone made their way back to their desks, paying full attention to the woman at the front of the class.

The teacher cleared her throat. “None of you most likely know me, as I’m a new teacher here, as well as new in town.” She gave a small smile. “I actually just finished becoming a teacher, so I look forward to teaching you this year and getting to know you.”

Waverly continued to stare at her, a little wide eyed and mouth slightly agape. This woman was insanely attractive, which was confusing in more ways than one. She had never really felt this way towards other women, but this new teacher made her feel all tingly in a way she couldn’t describe. She had a gentle and nice aura about her that made Waverly want to know more about her.

“Oh, I forgot to give you my name,” she chuckled as she turned towards the whiteboard and started writing it down with a black whiteboard marker. After writing her name she turned back towards the class and coincidentally made eye contact with Waverly, who was still staring. “You can call me miss Haught,” she said as she gave Waverly a sly smile.


	2. chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> It's only been a day since I last posted, but as this is the beginning of the fic I figured it'd be good to get through the establishment of the setting and so forth to see if y'all will still be interested after you see the direction I choose to take this. I'm also sick which means my weekend plans fell through so I have plenty of time to write.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Waverly barely paid enough attention in her other classes to not get called out on it, but all she could think about was her new history teacher, miss Haught.  _ What is that name even _ , she thought to herself as she walked out towards the parking lot. She didn’t get far though, as she heard a voice calling out from behind her.

“Waverly, babe, wait up!”

Waverly was instantly brought out of her thoughts as she turned around and saw no other than Champ Hardy, that, unfortunately, was her boyfriend.

“Hey Champ,” she said shortly, trying to keep conversation to a minimum.

“Hey babe, where are you going? I haven’t seen you since school started. Don’t you want to spend some quality time with your one and only?” Champ said as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Sorry, but Wynonna is picking me up so I’m just going to go home for today.” Waverly wasn’t sorry, in fact she had been trying to avoid Champ like the plague since school had ended for the summer. They were together, yes, but in a small town with limited options, it was mostly just for show and convenience. She had liked him in freshman year when he was actually sweet and caring, but now it was easier to just keep him around.

“But we never spend any time together anymore, don’t you want to see me?” Champ pouted and gave Waverly his best puppy dog eyes.

_ No, I don’t want to see you _ , Waverly thought. She pushed her intrusive thoughts back and gave her boyfriend a shy smile. “Of course I do, it’s just that I really don’t want to piss off Wynonna, you know how she gets.”

She saw Champ shudder at the thought of an angry Wynonna, whose wrath he faced basically every time they saw each other.

“Alright but let’s hang out sometime soon okay? Let’s go see a movie or something and make out in the back of the theater,” he said as he gave her a suggestive look. He stepped closer and put both of his hands around her waist as he pushed a sloppy kiss onto her mouth. “See you tomorrow,” he said, and with that he walked away towards his group of friends who stood at a distance and watched their interaction.

Waverly huffed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She was really questioning whether he was worth keeping around for the remainder of the school year. He was nice to have around when there was no one else to be with, but at the same time she wasn’t really getting anything out of this relationship. Everyone thought of them as high school sweethearts, but Champ just kept up appearances for everyone else and dropped the act as soon as they were alone together.

She sighed as she started walking towards Wynonna’s car she saw parked in the parking lot. For the time being he would have to do.

* * *

None of Waverly’s other classes had been different than expected. Miss Haught was the only new teacher this year, and all other teachers Waverly had had previously. As she sat in her last class of the week, algebra, she sighed. It looked like the year was going to be pretty bleak after all.

As the last bell of the day rang, Chrissy walked up to her with a resigned sigh. “It’s only been one week and this class already feels like a bad idea. Ugh, why did I even pick it?”

Waverly just snickered at her. “You tell me, but at least we have this class together, right?” she said as she grinned at her friend.

Chrissy rolled her eyes. “Right, like there aren’t other ways to spend time with you.”

“Now come on Chrissy, isn’t math class the perfect place to hang out?”

Chrissy just glared back at her, clearly not as amused as her friend by the whole thing.

“Anyway, we have our first cheer practice of the season today, isn’t that going to be fun at least?” Waverly said as she tried to lighten the mood a little.

“Yeah I guess, and considering you’re the captain this year, it’s definitely going to be better than last year,” Chrissy said as she gave her a small smile.

Waverly smiled back at her friend. Right, she was the cheer captain this year, which meant loads more responsibility. Coming up with the choreography, making sure practices went smoothly and so forth. Now her essentially nonexistent free time would definitely become nonexistent, because if she wasn’t busy doing work for all of her classes, she would definitely be busy with things regarding cheerleading. Even though she looked forward to being the new captain, especially with last year having been a bit of a disaster and drama fiesta, it would require a lot of work.

* * *

  
  


As cheer practice came to an end and most girls left the gym hall, Chrissy and Waverly were among the last few remaining gathering up their stuff.

“That went well, didn’t it? For being the first practice and all,” Chrissy said, almost a surprised tone in her voice.

“Yeah, it did,” Waverly said as she breathed a small sigh of relief.This year was definitely going to be better, considering it was the senior girls who now had graduated who stirred up the drama last year.

Chrissy looked around briefly before stepping closer to Waverly and lowering her voice slightly. “Now it’s only Stephanie Jones we have to be concerned about. God, she was such a bitch today.”

“Maybe… bitch is a little bit of an exaggeration,” Waverly said hesitantly.

“Waverly,” Chrissy started as she gave her friend a knowing look. “She literally cannot stop talking about how you don’t deserve Champ like you’re not good enough. Everyone with eyes and higher than single digit IQ should be able to tell that it’s the other way around.”

“Chrissy…,” Waverly tried.

“Do you even like the guy?” Chrissy interrupted. “We spent so much time together this summer, did you even see him once?”

“Um…” Waverly didn’t really know what to say. Chrissy was her best friend after all, but she hadn’t really mentioned her feelings for Champ lately.

“Like, I don’t want to jump to conclusions or anything, but you never talk about him anymore and he honestly seems like a bit of an asshole.” Waverly could see the concern in Chrissy’s eyes, as she considered that she might have overstepped.

Waverly looked down at her feet. “I… don’t really like him anymore. He only wants to make out or... do other things and I don’t really want to but that’s the only reason he wants to hang out. I liked him at first but now he’s not the same,” she blurted out.

“But why not break up with him then?” Chrissy gave her a questioning look.

“Because I haven’t had a good enough reason to. There’s nothing wrong per se, and everyone thinks we’re this lovey dovey couple and I guess it’s just easier to keep the appearances up than to go through a breakup at this point.”

“I mean, you do you, but that’s a pretty dumb reason if you ask me,” Chrissy said matter-of-factly.

“I guess.” Waverly knew that her reasoning was pretty weak, but she couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it currently. “I’ll just wait and see, maybe he’ll give me a reason to break up with him,” she said as she gave Chrissy a small smile. “Then he won’t make it so hard for me.”

Chrissy chuckled. “Whatever suits you, Waves.”

* * *

  
  


Thankfully Wynonna had driven her home after practice, but as she had to go to work directly after, it meant that Waverly was spending yet another evening alone. Too lazy to cook anything substantial, Waverly rummaged around the fridge and cupboard until she found something she wouldn’t mind eating for dinner.  _ Instant ramen it is then _ , she thought.

This weekend would be her calm before the storm, as the first week of school thankfully hadn’t assaulted her with any major assignments to get done. She would just sit back, relax and do basically nothing for the entirety of Saturday and Sunday and not worry about anything else until Monday. She deserved some peace and quiet after all, especially considering how busy she was going to be once assignments started piling up.

Waverly didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she was woken up by the sunlight shining through the window. She groaned, not truly realizing what the cause was, until she opened her eyes and realized that she had in fact fallen asleep on the couch. Quickly looking at her phone, she saw that it was just after eight in the morning. With a sigh she stood up, still in her sweatpants and loose fitting t-shirt she had thrown on yesterday after her shower, and peeked out the hallway to make sure Wynonna had made it home after work. Thankfully her jacket and shoes were there, and as Waverly breathed a small sigh of relief, she decided to get her day of doing nothing substantial started by eating breakfast and watching series on her phone.

As two pm rolled around and Waverly was starting to feel like lunch wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, Wynonna came walking into the living room where Waverly once again was lying on the couch.

“Mornin’ baby girl,” Wynonna said in a sleepy voice.

Waverly scoffed lightly. “I wouldn’t necessarily call this time of day ‘morning’, but good morning to you too Wynonna,” she said as she paused the episode she was currently watching. “You hungry? I was just thinking that lunch would be a great idea right about now.”

“Uh yeah, sure,” Wynonna stuttered slightly as she looked around the room for some indication of the time. “That’d be great. What were you thinking?”

“Hmm, I was thinking takeout. I can’t really be bothered to cook anything right now,” Waverly said as she scrambled out from under her pile of blankets. “Are you in the mood for anything specific?”

“Well, Chinese always works, right? Does that sound good?” Wynonna said as she stretched her arms above her head, trying to suppress a yawn.

  
“Yeah, that sounds good. Their vegetarian options are great as well,” Waverly said as she picked up her phone from the couch and skimmed through her contacts looking for the number. “I’ll order then.”

Wynonna just hummed in agreement and went to the bathroom, leaving Waverly in the living room.  _ I’ll make sure to cook something for dinner at least _ , she thought as she hung up the phone.  _ It’ll have to be something easy though. _

* * *

Waverly couldn’t fathom why, despite working there most evenings of the week, Wynonna would want to spend her free nights at Shorty’s as well.

_ “There aren’t a lot of other places to go get drinks in this town, right? Where else am I supposed to go?” _

_ “Maybe you could do something else than drink? There are many things that are fun that don’t involve alcohol, Wynonna.” _

_ “Yeah that may be true, but there are also many things that are more fun when alcohol is involved.”  _

_ “Whatever, just be safe, okay?” _

_ “Always, baby girl.” _

Wynonna had left not too long after they had eaten dinner together, which had consisted of a simple pesto pasta that Waverly had cooked way too much of so it would last as leftovers for the rest of the weekend. As Waverly once again was lying on the couch, covered by a pile of blankets and still watching series on her phone, she heard a car arrive at the house.

Assuming it was Wynonna who might have had too much to drink, Waverly got up from the couch and started walking towards the door, ready to scold her sister for driving under the influence, again.

As she opened the door and saw who was walking towards the house, she froze. A car she didn’t recognize was parked just in front of the barn, and with Wynonna hanging onto her arm and barely being able to walk, a familiar redhead was helping her sister the best she could.

“...miss Haught?” Waverly said quietly to herself. “What the…”

“Oh hello,” miss Haught gave Waverly a full-blown smile as she made eye contact with her. Remembering Wynonna hanging onto her for dear life, her smile faded slightly into a more awkward one. “Wynonna here is quite drunk, as you can maybe tell, so I offered to drive her home.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Waverly managed, recovering slightly from the shock of seeing her teacher at her house. “Well, ‘quite’ is quite the understatement. Thank you, miss Haught.”

Waverly noticed how her teacher was caught off guard by her way of addressing her. “You’re in my European history class, right? Waverly, if I remember correctly.” Miss Haught and Wynonna had made it up the porch and were now standing right in front of Waverly as she stood in the doorway.

“Uh, yeah, that’s me,” Waverly said, thankful that she at least remembered her name.

“Right. This must be your sister then, as she mentioned having a younger sister quite a few times. The last name didn’t really click until now,” miss Haught said as she gave Waverly a small smile.

Wynonna was still hanging onto miss Haught, clearly unaware of the situation and most likely her whereabouts. She stumbled and almost went flying face first onto the floor, but miss Haught quickly grabbed hold of her and hoisted her upright.

“Shit,” Waverly said as she fully realized that her sister was completely out of it. “I can take her now, if you don’t mind.” Waverly took a few steps closer to her sister, holding out her arms so she could grab a hold of her. “I’ve dealt with her like this before, it’s not an uncommon occurrence,” she said in a joking tone, trying to not concern her teacher.

A hint of concern flashed across miss Haught’s face, but she quickly recovered. “Right. Well,” miss Haught started as she took a few steps away from the sisters. “I better make my way home. It was nice seeing you Waverly, and tell Wynonna hi from me when she wakes up, okay? I want to make sure she’s okay after this.”

“Of course. And thank you once again, miss Haught, for driving my sister home. It was really nice of you.”

“It was nothing, really. Good night, Waverly, and see you in school next week,” miss Haught said as she gave her one final smile and started walking down the porch steps and towards her car.

“Good night, miss Haught,” Waverly said, slightly too high pitched for her liking. 

She let out a small breath she didn’t know she had been holding as the car started driving away. Wynonna was leaning against the doorframe whilst Waverly was supporting her so she wouldn’t fall over.

“Let’s get you inside, you big dummy. We will talk about this tomorrow,” she said to her sister, who just made some incoherent noises as some sort of answer. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to remind you so you don’t forget,” she finished, giving her sister a tight lipped smile. She was not going to let her sister hear the end of this tomorrow.


	3. chapter three

“I thought that we’d talked about this.”

Wynonna just groaned in response, not even looking in her sister’s direction as she was splayed out on the couch in the living room.

“I’m serious, Wynonna. You have to take better care of yourself, okay?” Waverly was angry, but first and foremost she was concerned. Wynonna usually never got this wasted, although it wasn’t uncommon for her to have a little too much to drink when she went out drinking.

“What are you, my mom?" Wynonna shot at her sister.

"Wynonna…” Waverly’s hardened tone changed to a sadder one as she gave Wynonna a sorrowful look.

The regret could be seen on Wynonna’s face the moment she saw her sister’s reaction. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I love that you care so much for me, but I can take care of myself too, you know?"

“I know, it's just that you're not doing a very good job at it and I want to be there for you,” Waverly tried.

Wynonna gave her a small smile. “Thank you, baby girl, and I promise that I’ll try harder, okay? I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Waverly returned her sister’s smile. “You better,” she said in a joking tone. “But on another note, you even got miss Haught to drive you home. You better thank her you know, next time you see her.”

“Miss Haught? Who’s that?” Wynonna gave her a dumbfounded look.

“Uh… Tall redhead? You really don’t remember who drove you home?” Waverly was baffled.

“Oh!” Wynonna exclaimed. “You mean Haughtstuff?”

  
“H-Haughstuff?” Waverly stuttered.   
  


“Her last name’s Haught, right? That’s Haughtstuff.”

“Um, right…,” Waverly began. “She’s my history teacher. You call her ‘Haughtstuff’?”

“Yeah, it’s funny, right?” Wynonna grinned at her. “But now that I think about it, I don’t even remember her first name.”

“So you’ve just resorted to calling her ‘Haughtstuff’? And she’s fine with that?”

“Well,” Wynonna began as she looked up in thought. “I don't think she actively told me to stop calling her that.”

“God Wynonna, that’s maybe a bit rude, isn’t it?” Waverly questioned her sister.

Her sister gave her a challenging look. “Do  _ you _ know her first name then, baby girl? Because based on the way you address her it sure doesn’t seem like it.”

Waverly shrugged her shoulders at her sister, grinning at her slightly. “Touché.”

* * *

The Earp sisters spent the entire Sunday at home, watching movies together in the living room. As the bottle of coke standing on the coffee table only had a few drops left at the bottom and the bag between them that used to contain chips was empty, Waverly let out a dramatic sigh.

Wynonna gave her sister a questioning look. “I know we’ve seen this movie a million times, baby girl, but don’t you think it’s a little rude sighing at Lieutenant Dan when he’s just lost his legs?”

Waverly rolled her eyes and sighed again. “It’s not the movie, I promise,” she started. “It’s just that” -she hesitated slightly- “I really don’t feel like going to school tomorrow.”

Wynonna knew that this was unusual for her sister, but sensing the mood, she decided to not try making light of the situation. “Why? Is there something wrong?” she tried asking as an open ended question, letting her sister do the talking.

“No, not really,” Waverly said simply. “I just want this year to be over with. I’m ready to get away from here and experience something more and I don’t want to wait any longer.”

“Baby girl, I know the feeling,” Wynonna said, giving her a sympathetic look. “I felt like I had to get away too after high school, so I did. It was a great experience, really, but, look at me now,” she said, gesturing to herself. “I’m back here with you again. Even if it feels shitty now, there’ll probably be things you’ll miss about this place. Like me, for example.” Wynonna grinned at her sister.

Waverly was initially silent, lost in thought. She had felt desperate for a while now to get out of Purgatory as her own sister had shown her how great it could be. She had spent time in Greece and all over Europe, working the most odd jobs to get by but still managing. When she came back it seemed like everything she had experienced had been great, fantastic even. The only reason she returned was because of their uncle Curtis’ funeral and then she decided to stay, saying that she had done enough exploring for the time being.

“I guess,” Waverly shrugged. “But there’s so much to see and I just want to experience it for myself, you know?”

“I know, but don’t take the time you have now for granted. This  _ is _ your final year of high school after all, so don’t waste it. It won’t be long until you’re an old hag like me wishing you didn’t waste of all of it doing stupid shit.”

“Wynonna, you’re only six years older than I, you’re not  _ that _ old,” Waverly said, nudging her sister with her elbow. “But I’ll keep your very uncharacteristic-of-you advice in mind.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to help, you know,” Wynonna said, nudging her sister back a little harder. “Just like you’re trying to help me.”

Waverly gave her sister a full-blown smile and in response Wynonna placed her arm around Waverly, pulling her closer.

“Well, let’s continue watching the movie, shall we?”, Wynonna said, returning her attention to the TV that was still playing in the background. “I wouldn’t want to miss this Gump dude’s sick ping pong moves if I were you.”

* * *

The second week of school had started and Waverly couldn’t help but feel slightly cathartic as she walked to her locker at the end of the day. This was going to be a long year, but the least she could do was to try to enjoy it. Time is fleeting and moments that pass will never come again, yada yada. 

One thing that was quite worrying though was seeing miss Haught again. The last time they interacted was when she had driven an incredibly intoxicated Wynonna home from the bar, and Waverly wasn’t really sure if it would make miss Haught see her any differently. Not that they had interacted a lot, in fact, they had only spoken that one time outside of class, but she didn’t want  _ that _ to be miss Haught’s impression of her.

“Waverly.”

Waverly was instantly brought out of her spiraling thoughts by someone calling her name, and as she looked behind her, her mouth was left slightly open in shock.

“Hi,” miss Haught said as she came closer and stopped right in front of Waverly, smiling down at her. “I was just wondering how your sister was doing. She was in pretty bad shape when I drove her home.”

“Um, yeah Wynonna’s uh… fine,” Waverly stuttered, suddenly quite nervous. “I told her to, uh, talk to you or something but I guess she hasn’t gotten around to doing that.”

“I thought about calling her but considering I would see you here in school, I figured I could just talk to you instead,” miss Haught said, rubbing the back of her neck. “But maybe I should call her just to check in.”

“Well,” Waverly started, not noticing miss Haught’s fidgeting. “She did have quite the hangover but we just spent the day eating snacks and watching movies, so by today she should be fine.”

“Yeah definitely. But if something like this happens again with your sister, she has my number so you can just call me, okay?” miss Haught said as she placed a hand on Waverly’s shoulder.

The contact made Waverly’s skin tingle and she froze up for a second. Miss Haught, misinterpreting her reaction as discomfort, quickly removed her hand and gave her awkward smile. “But I’ll try to contact her for myself to see how she’s doing. She was nice after all, so maybe I’ll try to hang out with her with less alcohol involved.”

Waverly, still a little flustered, was relieved by the comment. Wynonna seemed to at least have made a good enough impression on miss Haught that made her not want to never see her again, so that was a plus. “I think Wynonna would appreciate that, really. She could use some more friends,” Waverly said, feeling happy for her sister.

“Alright then, I’ll make sure to give her a call. See you tomorrow in class, Waverly,” miss Haught said, raising her hand in a small wave and starting to walk away.

“See you tomorrow, miss Haught.”

As miss Haught walked away and Waverly made her way to her locker, she let out a breath that she barely registered she was holding. Miss Haught had been nice to her, showing concern for Wynonna when they barely knew each other. She couldn’t understand why she became so incredibly flustered when she spoke to her and the touch to her shoulder had completely shut her off for a second. How could someone she had hardly interacted with have this effect on her? Miss Haught was attractive, sure, but not even Champ had had this power over her, and they were in a relationship. Waverly knew that whatever these feelings were, they surely spelled trouble.

* * *

Wynonna was splayed out on the couch doing nothing in particular as she waited for her shift to start. Waverly had called her and said that she had gone home to Chrissy after school to get some work done, and Wynonna didn't particularly mind not having to drive her sister home that day. Her hangover had definitely passed, but she still felt a little worn out from it.

It was just after five pm and her shift at Shorty's started in about an hour, which meant that she didn’t have to get ready for another 20 minutes or so. She contemplated taking a short nap, as she would have just enough time for it, but before she could even start finding a comfortable position to fall asleep in, her phone rang.

Startled, Wynonna picked up her phone. She looked at the caller id and didn’t recognize the name, but she picked up anyways. “Hello?”

“Hello, this is Nicole,” a familiar voice at the other end said.

“Uh… Who?”

“Nicole, Nicole Haught. I drove you home from the bar Saturday,” she said expectantly.

“Right!” Wynonna suddenly remembered. “Haughtstuff!”

“As I said, I’d prefer it if you’d not call me that. But anyways,” -Nicole cleared her throat- “How are you doing today? I heard from your sister that you’re doing fine, but I wanted to hear from you too.”

“I’m fine, really, no biggie,” Wynonna said casually. “But wait,” -Wynonna’s brows furrowed- “how do you know my sister?”

“Uh,” Nicole said, feeling a little put on the spot. “I’m her teacher. I recognized her when I met her at your house.”

“Right, right, she mentioned that yesterday, I just forgot about it,” Wynonna said. “Well, thanks for calling Haughtstuff, I appreciate it.”

“Uh, no problem.” Nicole hesitated slightly. “I’ll see you around then, Wynonna. Be careful next time you drink, okay?”

“Okay mom, I will,” Wynonna said sarcastically, albeit with a joking tone in her voice. “See you later.”

“See you.”

As Wynonna hung up the phone, she tossed it onto the couch and sat back down. Nicole, as she had now learnt her name was, was nice. Even though the concern she showed felt a little weird considering they had only just met, it was still endearing. Maybe she had found a new friend in this god forsaken town after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you read, I changed the perspective to Wynonna's in the end, hopefully it wasn't weird or anything. I do plan on writing from Nicole's perspective as well, as I think it'll add to the story, but this story will mostly be based on Waverly's perspective. If you have any feedback regarding this, please don't hesitate to throw it my way. I don't like a too omniscient perspective when reading myself because I think it ruins the surprise a little, but maybe that's just me. Anyways, that's why I want to keep the story mainly focused on Waverly, but I'll see what works best.


	4. chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another chapter, hope ya'll like it. This is my longest chapter yet, almost 3300 words long! I won't have any time to publish another one until next Sunday probably, so hopefully this'll be enough to last you until then.
> 
> As I'm posting this I'm currently at 999 hits, that's insane! I don't know if it counts the same people clicking on my work multiple times as multiple hits, but still it's crazy to me that close to a thousand people have clicked on my work. Thank you everyone, and thanks especially to all of you who leave kudos and comments. I appreciate each and every one of you as you motivate me to continue updating this work amidst all the things I actually have to do in my life.

As the first few weeks of school had passed by, Waverly had gotten used to it. If she wasn’t in school, she was working on the countless assignments that had started piling up one by one or at cheer practice, preparing for the first games of the season. She had about as much free time as she had anticipated, which was almost zero. The little free time she did have she either spent reading or watching TV series or maybe hanging out with Chrissy if she had the chance.

One thing Waverly hadn’t gotten used to though, was miss Haught’s continuous presence in her life. Being weirdly flustered and nervous around miss Haught was enough in school, but as she and Wynonna had started hanging out since the night they met at Shorty’s, Waverly had to deal with being around her at home too when she came over. It wasn’t often, but it was enough to make Waverly uncomfortably aware of herself at all times when she was there. The first time miss Haught came over, Waverly had not anticipated it at all.

  
  


_Waverly was absentmindedly staring out her window, sitting at her desk with homework right in front of her that she had gotten too distracted to finish, when she heard a knock on the door._

Strange, _she thought as she put down a pencil she had been chewing on. No one really ever came to visit them on the Homestead except their aunt, considering its location so far out of town, and she wasn’t expecting anyone. Wynonna would be home any minute from her shift, but she wouldn’t need to knock._

_Perplexed, Waverly walked down the stairs and into the hallway. She only saw a silhouette in the frosted window on the door, not being able to make out who it was. As she opened the door, revealing the identity of the visitor, she couldn’t help but stare in disbelief._

_“Mi...miss Haught?”_

_Waverly didn’t miss how miss Haught’s eyes quickly scanned her up and down before she gave her a dimpled smile. “Hello Waverly.”_

_Before Waverly could even think about what the implications of miss Haught’s look could have been, she became mortified as she remembered how she looked. Her hair was like a bird’s nest on her head, messy and unbrushed, and the baggy t-shirt and pajama bottoms she was wearing had gaping holes and stains that couldn’t be washed out on them._

_She couldn’t help her cheeks heating up from embarrassment. She had spent the entire Saturday at home working on assignments for school, so she didn’t have a reason to dress up or anything, but miss Haught unexpectedly showing up at her house made her feel like maybe she should’ve dressed up just in case._

_“Uh…” Waverly couldn’t think of anything to say, her brain short circuiting._

_Miss Haught seemed to sense her embarrassment and cleared her throat, still smiling at her. “I was wondering if Wynonna was home? We had made plans to hang out but it doesn’t seem like she’s at home yet.”_

_Waverly tried to recover from her initial shock and subsequent embarrassment, requiring quite some concentration to form a coherent response. “Uh… Wynonna should be home any minute now, she finished work not that long ago.”_

_“Right, great,” miss Haught said. “Would it be alright if I came in in the meantime? I mean, while I wait for her.”_

_“Um, yeah sure,” Waverly managed. “Make yourself at home,” she said as she gave miss Haught an awkward smile._

_Miss Haught said a quick thank you as she stepped inside the house, taking of her shoes and putting her jacket on a coat hanger. She was definitely more casually dressed than she usually was in school. Instead of her typical dress pants and blazer that Waverly normally saw her in, she was wearing a pair of tight fitting black jeans and a flannel shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. Waverly tried not to think about how good she looked in her outfit._

_Waverly tried to offer her anything to eat or drink, but she declined, stating that Wynonna was supposed to bring them snacks. Not knowing what else to talk to her teacher about, Waverly excused herself to go back to her room, stating she had homework to finish. Miss Haught wished her good luck as she sat on the living room couch, giving Waverly a final smile as she turned and walked up the stairs._

_Back in her room, Waverly did not get any homework done for the rest of the night. The muffled voices and laughs coming from downstairs were too distracting, so she ultimately gave up and instead decided to watch series until she fell asleep, barely being able to keep a certain someone off her mind._

  
  


As miss Haught’s visits had become somewhat commonplace, Waverly made sure to ask Wynonna in advance whether she was coming over so she could make herself look somewhat presentable beforehand. She was at least _not_ going to make that mistake twice. 

Waverly tried to be casual about her choice of clothing, especially since most of the time when miss Haught came over she would be spending the day at home. However, today, which was a Saturday and also the most common day for miss Haught to come over, Waverly had other plans. 

Unfortunately for Waverly, they weren’t great plans. Champ had practically gone down on his knees begging her to hang out together, and she didn’t have enough good excuses left to leave him hanging. They hadn’t spent time together in a long time, not since during the summer break, and Waverly figured it was about time. He was her boyfriend, after all.

* * *

“Babe, you’re gonna love this movie, I promise,” Champ said as he gave Waverly a suggestive look.

Waverly could barely contain her eye roll and huff of annoyance as she gave her boyfriend a sweet smile. She knew what Champ had wanted all along when he suggested a movie date, as they had done it many times before. He chose a random romcom movie that was currently newly released, they chose seats at the back of the theater and then they made out for about half the duration of the movie. In Champ’s head, that was the perfect idea for a date, and the first few times, Waverly had sort of enjoyed it too. It got old very quickly though, and after almost three years and a bazillion movie dates, it took every ounce of her self control to not tear her own hair out at the idea.

Champ was kind enough to pay for the tickets and snacks, which he always did. He did have his sweet moments, even though they were few and far inbetween, but those were worth cherishing. As they entered the theater and sat down in their seats furthest back, Waverly turned towards him.

“Thank you, Champ, for paying for everything. It was really sweet of you,” she said, trying to sound as genuine as she could.

“Babe, it’s not problem, but you know how you could make it up to me?” he said, smirking at her. Without waiting for a response, he pressed a quick kiss onto her lips. “That’s better.”

Waverly just huffed, feigning annoyance. He could be quite annoying, but sometimes it was also quite endearing. “Whatever.”

* * *

At the cinema everything had gone as expected. Champ wanted to make out and so they did. Sometimes he got too handsy for Waverly’s liking and she subtly tried to wriggle herself away from his hands, but somehow they always found their way back onto her, no matter how hard she tried. Eventually she just kind of gave up, not caring enough to bother.

After the movie they went to a nearby restaurant to eat dinner. As they had ordered and their food had arrived, Champ strayed away from idle chit chat about the movie, which he had barely paid any attention to in the first place.

“You know, next weekend is my birthday. I’m throwing this big party at my house and obviously I want you to come,” he started. “You do want to come, right?”

“Yes, of course I do,” Waverly said. She hadn’t been to a party since her junior year, and it was about time she went to one.

“You do know what I want for my birthday present, right? It never changes,” he said, winking at her.

“Oh, right.” Waverly’s surprisingly light mood from the afternoon quickly changed to dread. She knew what Champ wanted. He had wanted it for so long, he had begged and begged but this was the one thing that Waverly didn’t feel like she was ready to do.

“If you want, we can go back to my house and celebrate early. My parents aren’t at home, so we should have plenty of time for ourselves,” he said as he looked at Waverly expectantly. 

Waverly knew that his birthday was coming up, and this is what he would be asking for. He had been asking for it all the previous years they had been together, and it never felt any easier or better.

“I... I don’t… I don’t think I’m ready yet,” Waverly said quietly, knowing what would come next.

“Babe, what do you mean you’re not ready? We’ve been together for a really long time and you’re still not ready? How long are you gonna make me wait? I’ve got needs too, you know,” he said, almost sounding a bit desperate with his demanding voice.

“I… I just have to think about it, okay? But not today, please,” Waverly pleaded.

“Alright, not today. But I’m looking forward to next weekend,” he said giving Waverly a tight lipped smile. He was not pleased with the outcome yet again and Waverly could feel the anger seeping off of him. “Let’s end this for today, yeah?”

“Okay.”

* * *

The drive home was quiet. Champ, who surprisingly had managed to get his driver’s license in contrast to Waverly who didn’t have enough time or money for it, was strumming patterns on the wheel to the music that was playing low on the radio. When they arrived at the Homestead and Waverly was about to step out of the passenger seat, he grabbed her arm.

“Hey, don’t get too worked up about it, okay? We’ve known each other for so long, it shouldn’t be a big deal, us sleeping together. You’ll have plenty of time to think about it until the party, so don’t worry about it, it’ll be alright.”

Champ tried to be reassuring, but it honestly didn’t make Waverly feel any better. His expectations for her were evident in the way he spoke, but she couldn’t find it in her to argue about it. “Okay,” was all she could say.

“See you later, babe,” he said as he let go off her arm.

“See you.” With that, she finally stepped out of the car and she barely had time to slam the door shut before Champ started driving away again. With a sigh, she walked towards the house, up the porch and opened the door.

“I’m home,” she said simply as she stepped inside, kicking off her shoes.

“Hi, baby girl. We’re in the living room,” she heard her sister say, clearly giving away her location.

Waverly started walking towards the living room, fully aware that miss Haught was going to be there too. She was not really in the mood to talk to either of them, but it would be rude to not at least say hi.

In the living room, Wynonna and miss Haught sat on one side of the couch each, the TV playing some reality TV show in the background. The bottle of whisky Wynonna had bought earlier in the week stood on the coffee table, more than half empty at that point, as well as two wine glasses and an unopened bottle of wine.

Waverly chose to not comment on the amount of alcohol present, and instead turned towards her sister and her teacher. “Hi Wynonna, and hi miss Haught,” she said. “Nice seeing you here.”

“Hi Waverly,” miss Haught said, smiling. “Nice seeing you too.”

Miss Haught’s eyes lingered as she kept eye contact a bit too long with Waverly, but it was short lived as Wynonna interrupted. “How was your date with” -she fake gagged- “the Chump?”

Waverly’s small smile quickly faded as she looked down at the floor. “Um, it was okay, as usual.”

Wynonna, able to read her sister like a book, picked up on the change in demeanor. “Did something happen?”

Waverly quickly glanced up at miss Haught, whose brown eyes shone with concern. She didn’t show any signs of wanting to say anything, so Waverly turned her attention back to Wynonna. “Um, not something that hasn’t happened before.”

Waverly saw how Wynonna started getting worked up. “What do you mean, ‘something that hasn’t happened before’? Did he do something to you again?”

Waverly could see out the corner of her eye how miss Haught’s eyes widened in shock. “No, no, Wynonna, nothing like that. He just… asked again, you know?” Her voice became barely a whisper at the end, feeling small and embarrassed.

“I swear I’m gonna kill him,” Wynonna said, clenching her fists. “If he ever so much as touches you without your consent, I’ll end him.”

“Wynonna,” Waverly pleaded. “It’s not like that. It’s just that it’s his birthday next weekend and it’s all he ever asks for. I feel bad for him.”

Wynonna narrowed her eyes at her sister. “You feel bad, for _him_? Baby girl, this is not something you should ever feel bad about. He’s an asshole, that’s it.” Wynonna sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “Why don’t you just break up with him?”

“Um…” Chrissy had asked her this exact same question a few weeks prior. It was like everyone thought it was a good idea. “I don’t know, honestly.”

“Well, I think you should do it. Someone like _him_ ,” -Wynonna said with disgust in her voice- “doesn’t deserve someone like _you_.”

“Thanks, Wynonna,” Waverly said as she gave her sister a small smile. “I’ll think about it. Now, I just want to go to bed.”

“Alright, but if you feel like spending some time with us, don’t hesitate to come join us, you’re always welcome. Good night, Waves.”

“Good night, Wynonna,” she said to her sister. She looked over at miss Haught, who had sat quiet during their whole conversation, and gave her a small smile. “Good night, miss Haught. Sorry you had to hear that.”

“Uh, no problem,” miss Haught said, seemingly surprised that she was being spoken to. “Good night, Waverly.”

With that, Waverly walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She wasn’t sure she felt any better about the whole thing, but had at least been nice to talk to her sister about it. Maybe it was time to break it off with Champ.

* * *

Waverly had gone to sleep quite early for it being a Saturday, which meant that she also woke up fairly early. It was just after six thirty as she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen to make some breakfast for herself. She was humming absentmindedly on a made up tune, but she stopped abruptly as she saw who sat at the kitchen table, coffee mug in hand staring out the window.

“Miss Haught?”

Miss Haught jerked her head towards Waverly, slight surprise evident in her eyes. “Oh, good morning Waverly.”

“Um, good morning. What are you… uh… doing here?” Waverly couldn’t help but ask, seeing her teacher in her kitchen a Sunday morning feeling quite out of place.

“Oh right. I had a little bit too much to drink with your sister last night and didn’t feel like driving home, so she said I could sleep in your guest room.” She gave Waverly an awkward smile, knowing that the situation was probably a little weird for the both of them.

“Oh, okay, that’s understandable. What are you doing up so early then? Shouldn’t you try to sleep the alcohol out of your system or something?”

Miss Haught let out a breathy chuckle. “Well, I guess I should, but I just sleep so poorly after I drink so I figured I might as well get my day started. I’m just gonna wait for Wynonna to wake up to say goodbye and then I’ll go back home.”

Waverly snorted playfully. “Then you’ll have to wait at least a couple of hours. Wynonna usually sleeps until early afternoon, or maybe until noon if you’re lucky.”

Miss Haught looked inconvenienced for a second, contemplating what she should do. 

“We could just wake her up, if you want,” Waverly began. “She might be a little grumpy but she’ll easily fall asleep again, I promise.” 

“Hmm,” miss Haught thought aloud. “I’ll give her at least a little more time. Waking her up before seven would maybe be a little rude.”

Waverly let out a small laugh. “You’re right. We can let her sleep for a little while longer.”

They fell into comfortable silence for a while, miss Haught continuing to sip her coffee and Waverly preparing a sandwich and a glass of juice for breakfast. She sat down opposite miss Haught, exchanging a small smile as she did.

Miss Haught cleared her throat, shifting in her chair. “Waverly, if you don’t mind me asking,” she began. “I was just wondering about this, ‘Chump’ your sister was talking about. Who is he?”

“Uh,” Waverly hesitated as she put down her avocado sandwich back on her plate. “His name is actually Champ Hardy. He’s my boyfriend and we’ve been together since freshman year.”

“Oh,” miss Haught said shortly. “Your sister talked a bit about him after you went to bed and, to put it lightly, she doesn’t seem to be a big fan of him.” A small smile started tugging at the corner of her mouth, she clearly found the way Wynonna had expressed her disdain for him amusing.

“Yeah, I know. He’s not the best, obviously, but it’s a small town with limited options, so I haven’t really felt the need to break up with him,” Waverly said. “He’s nice enough though, he has his moments,” she added, trying to make it sound at least a little better.

Miss Haught gave her a contemplative look. “Forgive me if you think I’m being too direct,” -she let out a heavy breath- “but it seems like he’s pressuring you into things you don’t want to do. I obviously don’t know him that well and I don’t know you that well either, but I think, based on what I know about him and you, that you could do much better. Don’t stay with him just because it’s the easiest. It’s a relationship, after all, it should make you both happy.”

Waverly’s mouth was slightly agape as she listened to her teacher. She was trying to be considerate and Waverly felt her heart swell a little in her chest. “Thank you, miss Haught, I will think about it, really. It’s just hard to change things when it’s been ongoing for so long, you know.”

“I know, Waverly, I understand,” she said, giving her an understanding smile. “But please, you don’t have to call me miss Haught when I hang out with you guys, it’s a little weird if I’m being honest. Just Nicole is fine.”

“Uh,” Waverly said as she blinked rapidly at her teacher a couple of times, not really registering her request initially. “Right, I’ll try my best, N-Nicole.”


	5. chapter five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Long" time no see, my friends. I'm sorry for putting up this chapter later than I said I would, but last week was quite a busy one. That is not to say that if I really had put myself to it I wouldn't have been able to put out a chapter regardless, it's just that I've also had a hard time writing this chapter. This chapter is a little bit of a "recap" from Nicole's perspective, so I had to make sure there were no continuity errors, which took more time and effort than I had anticipated.
> 
> Since my last published chapter, I've gained almost 500 (!) additional views which is just insane. That's basically a third of the total views this work has! I'm also really close to 100 kudos; thanks to all of you who have left kudos on this silly little fic.
> 
> Hopefully y'all enjoy this chapter, I'm not sure when the next one will be out (no later than next Sunday) but look forward to some more action then!

A fresh start. That is what she was here for, after all. Nicole had moved to the small town of Purgatory in the middle of nowhere to get a fresh start, but so far, it had been quite the slow start. She had not anticipated the effort it took to move to a completely new place with everything she owned, especially when it had to be done in quite a rush. But after a few whole days of organizing and setting everything up, her new house seemed to somewhat resemble a home.

Her parents had questioned her decision to move so far away from home and to such a small town, considering that she had had the opportunity to get way better paying jobs at schools all across the country, but for her, this was about getting away. Getting away from everything she knew and start anew. Besides, what say do they have in it when they were the ones who essentially kicked her out in the first place?

Luckily for Nicole, a job in a small town as such as this one wasn’t hard to get. She had gotten the job as a history teacher when the former one retired, which made it a perfect opportunity, and her graduating at the top of her class certainly hadn’t made it harder to land the job.

As she had moved to Purgatory a few weeks before the school year started, she had plenty of time to acquaintance herself with the town, not that there was much to get acquaintanced with. She had basically seen the entire town in just a few days and experienced much of what could be considered worthwhile in that time, but still she found it charming. It was different from where she came, coming from a bigger city and all, but that was what she was after, after all: change.

Nicole had been quite nervous for the move, but the most nerve racking thing of them all was school actually starting. She was confident in herself, but she couldn’t help feeling doubtful about it, especially the first week. What if she made the wrong choice moving here? What if she doesn’t get along with the other staff? What if her students don’t like her?

Thankfully after the first week, everything seemed okay. The other staff had been nice enough and most of the students had just seemed fascinated by her, most likely because she was new. She had gotten a lot of curious looks when she initially moved to town, and it would most likely take a while before everyone recognized her as a familiar face. 

However, there was this one girl in particular that had caught Nicole’s eyes in her first class. She had noticed as she had introduced herself that the girl had been staring at her, but it wasn’t in the way the other students stared at her in confusion or out of curiosity, this was something else entirely. When she made eye contact with the girl as she said her name, she noticed how her entire face turned a few shades darker red. Nicole wasn’t really sure how to feel about it, considering it was one of her students. She knew that she was quite attractive, sure, but a girl not even considered an adult potentially having a crush on her was quite the new experience.

Nicole had later learnt that her name was Waverly, and she had gotten it confirmed as she had brought her drunk older sister home from the bar. The older sister, Wynonna, she’d seen at the bar the few times she’d been there, but that was the first night they spoke to each other. Nicole hadn’t really made any new friends since moving to Purgatory, and despite Wynonna continuously teasing her about her last name and coming up with puns based around it, she had been exactly what Nicole needed to unwind a little from her first week on the job.

Having to bring Wynonna home after she’d had slightly too much to drink was not something Nicole had been expecting. She wasn’t surprised, considering she had doubted Wynonna’s self proclaimed ability to stomach that much alcohol, but driving someone she just met home and finding out she was the older sister of a student she suspected having a crush on her was a strange coincidence, to say the least. To say that Waverly was confused seeing her there was an understatement, but seeing her both flustered and concerned for her sister was almost endearing in a way.

With the first week basically over, Nicole let out a sigh of relief. It had gone well, not that she had that many expectations to begin with in case she was going to be let down, but it was nice, for a change. Despite what the people back home had said about her move, maybe moving to Purgatory wasn’t that bad of a decision after all.

* * *

As the first few weeks of school passed by, Nicole slowly got accustomed to her new life in Purgatory. After her first meeting with Wynonna at the bar and her phone call to check up on her afterwards, they had quickly become what Nicole would consider friends. 

Though, being friends with Wynonna also meant some interaction with Waverly, which for Nicole was hard to gauge how she should handle. She tried asking Waverly first how Wynonna was after the weekend she had driven her home and tried to be comforting considering she had hinted that Wynonna might have a drinking problem, but it felt awkward. Waverly seemed uncomfortable in her presence and putting her hand on Waverly’s shoulder had probably been too intimate in hindsight. She knew Waverly might have some sort of feelings for her, but she didn’t know how to navigate around them.

Nicole just tried to keep her interactions with Waverly to a minimum. Sure, they saw each other in class a couple of times a week and around school, but she made sure to keep their topics of conversation about school and nothing else.

However, as Nicole went over to Wynonna’s and subsequently Waverly’s house for the first time, disaster was bound to strike. Wynonna had told her that she would be home at latest 30 minutes after her shift at Shorty’s ended and as Nicole showed up at the Homestead 45 minutes after said time, she was surprised, to say the least, when it was Waverly and not Wynonna who answered the door. 

Nicole couldn’t help herself. Her eyes shamelessly looked Waverly up and down and despite wearing clothes that probably would’ve been better suited in the trash than actually worn by someone, and hair that stood in all directions, she couldn’t help but think Waverly looked _adorable_ . No one in their right mind would even consider thinking those thoughts about their own _student_ , but here she was, thinking about it, if only for a split second.

Seeing how Waverly was about to die from embarrassment brought Nicole out of her thoughts and she managed to somewhat talk to her. Waverly was flustered, as she always seemed to be when talking to her, but at least the situation wasn’t all too awkward, considering Waverly was her _student_. Nicole realized that this situation was becoming a bit more cumbersome than she had originally bargained for.

* * *

As Nicole spent more and more time with Wynonna, she realized that she was quite easy to talk to. That’s mostly what they did anyways when they hung out, except for drinking or maybe watching some movie Wynonna had already seen a million times with Waverly, but as they talked more and more, Nicole got the feeling that her life wasn’t so bad after all, at least compared to what the Earp sisters had experienced.

“So you moved to this shitty little town because your parents didn’t accept you?”

“Well,” Nicole began, sitting next to Wynonna in the living room at the Homestead “that’s technically true, I guess.” She took a sip from the beer bottle she was holding that had been resting in her lap for quite some time. “They didn’t necessarily not _accept_ me, it’s just that they didn’t agree with my ‘lifestyle’, so I decided to just move far away and start over somewhere completely new after I finished my education. It became unbearable after a while, feeling like anything I ever did wouldn’t ever be enough because of one single trivial thing about me. And it wasn’t just my parents. The whole city wasn’t friendly towards people like me, so I just kinda had to get away regardless.”

“Damn, that’s rough,” Wynonna said as she let out a heavy breath. “But it’s nice of you telling me, Haughstuff, I really appreciate it. Not that I didn’t expect it, with-” Wynonna gestured to Nicole- “how you look and all, but you can never be too sure, you know.”

Nicole scoffed, feigning annoyance. “What do you mean, ‘how you look’? You think I look like a stereotypical lesbian or something?”

“You know what I mean,” Wynonna said as she gave Nicole a playful smile. “It’s just kinda easy to tell.”

“Whatever.” Nicole rolled her eyes at Wynonna. “But what about your parents? I haven’t seen them around at all, so is it just you and Waverly?”

“Yeah, it’s just me and her,” Wynonna said, an unfocused gaze in her eyes. “They’re not around anymore.”

Nicole gave her friend a concerned look. “Not around as in-”

“As in dead, yeah,” Wynonna interrupted. “Or at least our dad. He started drinking heavily after our mom left and eventually it killed him. Waverly wasn’t that old at the time so she doesn’t remember him that well, but our older sister Willa blamed it all on her. She eventually left with some good-for-nothing guy called ‘Bobo’ before she graduated high school and we haven’t seen her since.” She gave Nicole a sad smile. “So now it’s just me and Waverly.”

“Wynonna, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” Nicole felt guilty, having her newly found friend of just a few weeks tell her things that probably still cut deep.

“It’s fine, Haughtstuff, don’t worry about it. Besides, you told me things about your family, it’s only fair if I tell you some about mine.”

“You should only tell me things if you want to tell me about them, not because you feel like you have to,” Nicole said, scooching closer to Wynonna and placing a hand on her shoulder. “But it was really nice of you to tell me, okay? If you ever wanna talk more about it, I’ll be here for you.”

Wynonna flashed a small appreciative smile that turned into faked disgust. “Ugh, if you continue saying stuff like that I’m gonna barf.”

Nicole rolled her eyes once again, but decided to not push further. She knew Wynonna appreciated her concern, no matter how she chose to express it. “Go ahead then,” she challenged. “Barf.”

* * *

Ever since the first time she came to the Homestead, Nicole had noticed how Waverly almost seemed a little too dressed up for just staying at home the subsequent times she came over. She usually almost never saw Waverly anyways when she was over as she mostly decided to hole up in her room, but the few times she did see or catch a glimpse of her, it seemed like she was always dressed to go somewhere. _Maybe it’s because of me? For m-_ , Nicole thought but quickly shook it off, deciding to leave the thought unfinished. 

However, this particular Saturday afternoon seemed to be different. As she and Wynonna sat in the living room once again, watching a movie, Waverly came walking down the stairs, passing the living room for just a few seconds, and into the hallway. She had put on high waisted jeans and a crop top, and the thought of how good she looked popped up in Nicole’s head for just a second before it was interrupted by Waverly’s voice.

“I’m leaving now, you can eat dinner without me.”

“Alright baby girl, try to at least have a little bit of fun on your date, okay?” Wynonna yelled after her.

The only response Wynonna got was a slam of the door and the sound of Waverly’s steps on the front porch.

“Uh…, date?” Nicole said questioningly as the sound of Waverly faded.

“Yeah with Chump, her-” Wynonna stuck a finger into her open mouth, fake gagging- “her boyfriend.”

“Oh,” Nicole was surprised to hear this about Waverly, considering her initial thoughts about her. She collected herself, focusing instead on Wynonna’s display of dismay. “I assume you don’t like him?”

“He’s an asshole,” Wynonna spat out. “He seemed decent at first, but now there’s nothing I’d rather do than beat his dishonest ass. There are countless rumors about him cheating on Waverly with other girls. She has confronted him about it but he assures her that none of it has ever happened. She wants to think the best of people, so she’s decided to trust him, even though he’s lying through his fucking teeth.” Wynonna let out a heavy sigh, collecting herself. “It’s not my place, though. I’ve tried to tell her but she thinks I’m involving myself too much. I just want what’s best for her, and that doesn't include that sorry excuse of a man, if you could even call him that.”

As Nicole had gotten to know Wynonna more and more, she realized that she quite quickly started talking about things that you necessarily didn’t talk about with someone you had just known for a few weeks. It was reassuring nonetheless for Nicole that Wynonna felt as though they had become such good friends that she could share these sort of things.

Nicole couldn’t help a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth at Wynonna’s fierce protectiveness over her sister, something she couldn’t relate to herself, having no siblings of her own. “I guess you just have to let her do it her own way and figure it out in her own time,” she said. 

“I just don’t want to make her life harder than it has to be, you know?” Wynonna gave Nicole a look, seeking confirmation.

“I get it,” Nicole said, “But maybe it’ll at least be a lesson learned.”

“Ugh,” Wynonna let out as she tipped her head back on the back of the couch. “Hopefully she finds someone else to be with soon, or at least breaks up with him. If she could find a guy as caring and nice as you, that’d be perfect for her.”

Nicole froze up, mortified. “Wynonna, that’s a little...”

“Relax, Haughtstuff, I’m not trying to imply anything here. Besides, you’re her teacher. That’d be really weird.”

“Yeah, that’d be super weird,” Nicole said as she chuckled awkwardly. She knew Waverly had a… crush? or whatever it was on her, but there ever being something more would just be wrong, regardless if Waverly seemed to grab her attention more and more as of late.

* * *

_“Haughtstuff, do you have anyone back home?”_

_“Uh…,” Nicole hesitated. “What do you mean?”_

_“Like,” Wynonna began. “a girlfriend or something, back home.”_

_“Oh,” Nicole said shortly. “No, I don’t. Haven’t really had anything serious for a long time either. it’s hasn't really been that easy where I come from, you know?”_

_“I get it,” Wynonna said, throwing back the last of what she had left in her whisky glass and effectively ending the conversation, turning back towards the movie playing in the background._

Nicole thought back on the conversation with Wynonna she had had last night as she sat in the Earps’ kitchen, drinking her morning coffee. Wynonna had seemed like the quite noncommittal person, based on what Nicole saw when they hung out at the bar and what Wynonna had let slip about her. Nicole didn’t see herself in the same way, not at all, but ever since her first relationship, she hadn’t been in a seriously committed one after that. She had dated and had some occasional one night stands, but that was it. She and Wynonna were pretty similar in some ways, but in contrast to Wynonna, she at least wasn’t opposed to a committed relationship, it was just that her situation, being gay and all, had not exactly made it easier for her.

“Miss Haught?”

Nicole was jerked out of her thoughts by Waverly standing in the doorway to the kitchen, giving her a confused look.

“Oh, good morning Waverly,” she said, instantly realizing that the situation was quite weird to begin with. Here she was, Waverly’s _teacher_ , sitting in her kitchen a Sunday morning.

“Um, good morning. What are you… uh… doing here?” Waverly said, still not moving from the doorway.

_Right_. Waverly obviously wouldn’t know the reason she had stayed over, so seeing her here was understandably quite strange. “Oh right. I had a little bit too much to drink with your sister last night and didn’t feel like driving home, so she said I could sleep in your guest room.”

As Waverly visibly relaxed at Nicole’s answer, so did Nicole. Waverly stepped into the kitchen and stood closer to the table, still not sitting down. They continued talking a little and established to Nicole’s chagrin that she would have to wait quite a while for Wynonna to wake up so she felt like she could leave.

As their little conversation died down, a comfortable silence fell upon them. Nicole continued to drink her coffee as Waverly started preparing breakfast. It almost felt familiar in a way, _too_ familiar. This is perhaps not the way it should feel, Nicole figured, hanging out with her friend’s younger sister who also happens to be her student, but it did. It was comfortable and surprisingly not awkward.

Nicole started thinking about the events of the night before. How Waverly had come home looking distressed and sad after her date with her boyfriend and how Nicole felt like she couldn’t say anything, that she _shouldn’t_ say anything. But, there was something about this fall morning that just seemed like a perfect time, so she cleared her throat. “Waverly, if you don’t mind me asking,” she began. “I was just wondering about this, ‘Chump’ your sister was talking about. Who is he?” She of course had heard about him from Wynonna, but wanted Waverly’s side of things.

Waverly put down her toast and started talking. It was in a way amusing how easy it was to coax both of the Earp sisters into talking about themselves, but at the same time, Nicole figured it was a good thing that she at least seemed trustworthy enough to talk to. Nicole was concerned for the both of them and for an unexplained reason she felt that she needed to be there for them. Despite Waverly being her student, she could still console her, right?

“Forgive me if you think I’m being too direct-” Nicole let out a heavy breath- “but it seems like he’s pressuring you into things you don’t want to do. I obviously don’t know him that well and I don’t know you that well either, but I think, based on what I know about him and you, that you could do much better. Don’t stay with him just because it’s the easiest. It’s a relationship, after all, it should make you both happy.”

Nicole could see how Waverly’s eyes shone, accentuated by the low sun streaming in from the kitchen window. “Thank you, miss Haught, I will think about it, really. It’s just hard to change things when it’s been ongoing for so long, you know.”

“I know, Waverly, I understand,” she said. Waverly seemed to had taken what she had said to heart, valuing her input. Whatever Waverly chose to do, Nicole knew that she was at least going to be smart about it. 

Sitting in the Earp kitchen talking to Waverly this particular Sunday morning made Nicole realize something. She had learnt so much about the sisters, not only Wynonna but also Waverly, and they had become somewhat close. She was not friends with Waverly, for sure, but by being friends with her sister and subsequently interacting with Waverly quite a lot, the formal way Waverly addressed her felt out of place. She decided that it was time to drop the formalities, once and for all.

“But please, you don’t have to call me miss Haught when I hang out with you guys, it’s a little weird if I’m being honest. Just Nicole is fine.”

“Uh,” was the first thing coming out of Waverly’s mouth, a look of surprise on her face that Nicole couldn’t help think was adorable. “Right, I’ll try my best, N-Nicole.”


	6. chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. As you who have followed this fic can probably tell, it's been quite a while (46 days) since I last posted. I've been left feeling quite unmotivated this past month as there have been some major changes in my life because of the corona virus, which is why I haven't updated this in a while. I'm personally fine, I've not had the virus or anything, it's just that things that I've spent a lot of time planning for have come crumbling down and it's been hard to bounce back from.
> 
> Now I'm better and I've learnt to accept the volatility of the situation we're currently in. Hopefully y'all didn't think I had given up on this fic, because no matter what I plan on finishing this. It might take longer than I originally intended, but I plan on at least releasing 1-2 chapters a month. If I'm feeling extra motivated I'll try getting one more out before the end of April, but we'll see. For now, it'll have to do with my longest chapter yet, being almost 4300 words long. Enjoy!

It had been a week like any other. Assignments were piling up and midterms were inching closer and closer, only being a couple of weeks away. Despite what Waverly had thought initially, this year was going slightly faster than she had anticipated.

One thing that she did not enjoy coming closer every day was Champ’s birthday party. The bare thought of it made her hands start sweating out of nervousness and it certainly didn’t help that today was Friday, which meant the party was tomorrow.

As she thought about the impending party, her thoughts drifted to miss Haught. Despite what miss Haught had said, saying it was okay for Waverly to call her ‘Nicole’, it was hard to adjust to. They had definitely become more than just student and teacher, but at the same time, that’s also what they were. Calling miss Haught by her first name didn’t sit right, even when they saw each other outside of school. She obviously couldn’t call her ‘Nicole’ in school lest she wanted unwanted attention, but she couldn’t even bring herself to think of her as ‘Nicole’. It felt... strangely intimate.

Waverly was abruptly brought out of her thoughts by two hands from behind being placed on her shoulders. She froze up for a second before recognizing the voice of the person behind.

“Hi Waves! What are you spacing out for?” Chrissy said in an excited yet also slightly concerned tone.

“Oh,” Waverly relaxed and turned around to face her friend. “I’m just thinking about the party tomorrow.”

Chrissy let out a squeal. “I’m so excited! There hasn’t been like a  _ proper _ party since the school year started and the parties thrown at Champ’s house are always crazy. The whole hockey team is also going to be there, which means Robin is going to be there as well,” Chrissy said with a dreamy expression.

“You  _ still  _ have a crush on Robin? It’s been like, three years, Chrissy. Maybe it’s time to drop it soon.”

“I don’t think the time really matters, Waves, really. When we used to be closer he seemed to like me, and just because he spends all his time with his hockey friends nowadays doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel the same way,” Chrissy said as she gave Waverly a serious look.

Waverly just sighed. “Whatever you say, Chrissy.”

As school was out for the day, they started making their way to their lockers to get ready for cheer practice. All three of them, Chrissy, Robin and her, had been really good friends throughout freshman year and most of sophomore year. However, in the beginning of junior year, Robin had started seriously playing hockey for the school team and hung out with his teammates more and more, essentially ditching the girls in the process. Waverly had no hard feelings towards him and they still talked from time to time, but Chrissy had not taken it as easily because of her feelings for him. 

When they were just a few meters away from their lockers, Chrissy turned to Waverly who had been walking with slightly downcast eyes the entire way.

“Are you excited for the party?”

Waverly, feeling caught off guard, couldn’t think up a real response fast enough. “...What?”

“Are  _ you _ excited for the party? You and Champ have been a little off lately, so I’m just wondering how you’re feeling about the entire thing.”

“Well,” Waverly began, unsure of what to say. “I… I guess it’s going to be fun going to a party, but it being Champ’s birthday party makes it… less than ideal,” Waverly managed, forcing a smile.

“Waves,” Chrissy said, stopping just in front of their lockers and locking eyes with Waverly. “Remember, you don’t owe him anything. Hell, it might be his birthday, but you don’t even owe him a ‘congratulations’. We can have fun together, just you and I. If you want, we don’t even have to go.”

Waverly’s expression softened, giving her friend an appreciative smile. “I know, I know. I still want to go to the party, I really do,” she said. “But, I will wish him happy birthday, it is his birthday after all. I might not  _ owe _ him that, but I’m not  _ that _ rude.”

* * *

To say that Waverly was exhausted after cheer practice was and understatement. There were some big games coming up soon and making sure the choreography was spot on was easier said than done, especially when a lot of the girls would rather spend their Friday evening somewhere else than in the school gym hall.

As she sat in the passenger seat, head resting on the window and barely able to keep her eyes open, Wynonna started speaking.

“Just so you know, I told Haughtstuff she could stay over for dinner, so can you please cook something?”

Waverly groaned. “Wynonna, why invite her for dinner if you haven’t planned anything yourself?” Waverly snapped. “And also, don’t call her that, it’s weird.”

“We’ve got more than enough food in the fridge and you were going to cook anyways, right? You just have to cook for one more,” Wynonna said, trying to keep the tone light. “And what’s wrong with ‘Haughtstuff’? You want me to call her ‘miss Haught’, like you do?”

Waverly just let out a resigned sigh. They  _ did _ have a lot of food in the fridge, but she was hoping that she’d just be able to eat something light and quick so she could just go to bed early. “Yeah, whatever, I can just cook for one more. Don’t expect anything amazing today though, I’m super tired.”

“Thank you Waves, you’re the best,” Wynonna said, temporarily letting her eyes leave the road and giving her sister a full blown smile. “I owe you one.”

As they drove onto the Homestead, Wynonna had barely parked the car before Waverly opened her door and jumped out. Wynonna had said that miss Haught would be arriving shortly, and Waverly at least wanted to take a shower and look somewhat presentable before she came. However, she had barely stepped into the shower and turned the water on before she heard someone knocking on the door downstairs.

Waverly decided to take a quick shower; the quicker she showered, the quicker she could get cooking which also meant getting to sleep sooner. After throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt, she looked herself in the mirror. Despite her hair almost dripping from still being wet, she looked decent considering how tired she felt. With a final resigned sigh, she unlocked the door and walked downstairs to the kitchen, ready to start preparing dinner.

As Waverly was cutting vegetables, she could hear her sister and miss Haught talking in the living room. For every second she was feeling herself getting more and more irritated. Wynonna was the one who wanted a nicely cooked dinner, yet she couldn’t be bothered to even ask if Waverly needed help. She wasn’t going to say anything though, considering miss Haught was over and she didn’t want to turn the mood foul, but she would talk to Wynonna about this later.

Suddenly the living room had gone quiet and Waverly heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. As she turned to look towards the doorway, miss Haught appeared in it, stopping just over the threshold.

“Hi Waverly,” miss Haught said, showing her a dimpled smile.

Despite Waverly knowing she was here, seeing her instantly made her forget her irritation for Wynonna. “Hi miss Haught,” she said, stopping her cutting for a second.

Miss Haught chuckled. “You remember I told you that you can call me ‘Nicole’ here, right? You only have to call me ‘miss Haught’ in school.”

Waverly could feel her cheeks redden slightly, heating up from embarrassment. “Right, sorry. It’s a little bit hard getting used to.”

“I get it,” miss Haught said simply, giving her an understanding smile. “On another note, I was wondering if I could get a glass. I’m really thirsty and would love some water.”

“Oh, yeah sure,” Waverly said, putting the knife down on the cutting board and grabbing a glass from a cupboard over the sink, filling it with water. “Here you go.”

“Uh…,” miss Haught let out as she seemed a little caught off guard. “You didn’t have to fill the water for me, but thank you.”

“Of course,” Waverly said as she returned to her cutting board. “You’re a guest here after all,” she said jokingly.

Miss Haught gulped down about half her glass of water before answering. “Right. Well, do you want any help? I’m not exactly a master chef, but I can do the basics.”

Waverly was about to say no, but stopped herself at the last second. She wanted to get dinner done as soon as possible and getting help from someone plus getting to spend time with miss Haught was not that bad. “If you don’t mind, you could continue cutting the vegetables here and I’ll start with the next thing.”

“That’ll be great,” miss Haught said as she walked over to where Waverly was standing at the cutting board. She held out her hand and looked at Waverly expectantly, which initially confused Waverly, causing her heartbeat to quicken. Before she had time to react any further, she realized that she was holding the knife in her hand, and that miss Haught was holding out her hand so she could give it to her. Feeling even more embarrassed, she gave over the knife and quickly walked over to where her phone was lying on the kitchen table, displaying the recipe.

They worked quietly for a while, the only interruption being Wynonna yelling from the living room asking where Nicole had gone. When she suggested Wynonna could help too, Wynonna turned up the volume on the TV and pretended not to hear her.

After finishing cutting all the vegetables and washing the knife and cutting board, miss Haught turned to Waverly, who was standing at the stove with a frying pan in hand. She cleared her throat. “I hope I’m not a bother for coming over for dinner like this, considering it was on short notice and all.”

Waverly looked over at miss Haught, who looked a little uncomfortable with nothing to do. “It’s fine, cooking for only one more is not that big of a deal.”

“Well, it’s just seemed like based on what Wynonna told me you were quite tired, so I’m sorry if this was an inconvenience for you.”

Her irritation for Wynonna, who had seemingly disappeared as soon as she saw miss Haught, flared up again.  _ Why would Wynonna tell her such a thing? _ , she thought. Upon seeing the slightly worried expression on miss Haught’s face, she took a deep breath to calm down. 

Before Waverly had time to say anything, miss Haught continued. “I just… uh… had a little bit of a rough week and Wynonna thought it’d be nice for me to do something to keep my mind off of things. When she suggested dinner I thought it was a great idea, but maybe I should’ve realized she would put you on cooking duty. Sorry about that.”

Waverly just stared at miss Haught, blinking a few times. It was true that miss Haught did look a little worn out and stressed now that she thought about it, but she wasn’t really sure how to react. She was broken out of her momentary trance when miss Haught awkwardly started rubbing the back of her neck, looking away.

“Uh…,” Waverly began hesitantly. “It’s no big deal, really. I don’t mind cooking for you.” She winced slightly at the implications of her statement. “But uh… why has your week been rough? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Miss Haught gave her a quick, almost knowing smile, and Waverly couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, before she replied. “There’s just a thing from back home that I have to take care of. It’s more tedious than anything but I just want to get it over with,” she said vaguely.

Waverly noticed how she was very keen on not giving any details away, but she wasn’t going to push it. If miss Haught wanted to tell her, she would have. “Right, I understand,” she said, feeling like the conversation was over. “Let’s finish dinner so we can eat soon, yeah? I’m starving.”

* * *

Dinner had been fine for the most part, but it had also been almost unbearably awkward. It was apparent that her sister and miss Haught had something they wanted to talk about but couldn’t in Waverly’s presence. Instead they had settled for small talk, which had probably been worse than just silence. Miss Haught had asked her a few questions about school and how it went, but that conversation had died fairly quickly as well.

As she sat in Chrissy’s bed waiting for her to get dressed, she sighed. Chrissy, who was standing with her back against her and just finished putting a crop top on, turned towards her. 

“Waves, you’ve sighed like a million times tonight. You sure you want to go?”

Waverly just sighed again. “Yeah I want to go, it’s not the party I’m sighing about.”

Chrissy gave her a curious look. “What is it then?”

Waverly had not told Chrissy anything about miss Haught, choosing to keep it a secret for the time being. She wasn’t sure what or even if she felt anything for her, but she didn’t feel ready telling her friend yet. “I’ve just got so much to do for school, is all. If it weren’t Champ’s birthday party I probably would’ve stayed at home and studied.”

Chrissy scoffed. “Ugh, stop thinking about school work now. ‘Fun’ and ‘school’ can never be used in the same sentence and we’re here to have fun.”

“Right,” Waverly said, chuckling. “Speaking of fun; look what I brought.” She grabbed her backpack of the floor in which she had packed her clothes in and with a grin, pulled out a full bottle of some unknown Polish vodka.

“Waves! Oh my god!” Chrissy exclaimed. “How did you get that?”

“Well,” Waverly said mischievously. “Wynonna said she ‘owed me one’ yesterday, and I figured this was the perfect thing.”

Chrissy looked at her friend in shock. “Did Wynonna give this to you?”

“What? She would never, I’ve tried asking before,” Waverly said, shrugging. “I took it from her liquor cabinet, she won’t even notice that it’s gone.”

“Oh Waves you bad girl!” Chrissy said as she started laughing. “Well, now we at least don’t have to worry about drinking someone else’s shitty alcohol that has come from God knows where.”

Waverly just laughed in agreement. She had drunk alcohol before at parties, but she had never brought her own. Perhaps it had been a spur of the moment kind of thing, taking the vodka bottle from Wynonna, but at the same time she felt like this might be just what she needed. _ It’s called ‘liquid courage’ for a reason, right? _

* * *

When Waverly and Chrissy arrived at Champ’s house, the party was already in full swing. The driveway leading up to the house was jam packed filled with cars and some people had even brought the party outside, despite the chilly weather.

As they were walking up towards the house, Waverly held the bottle that was wrapped up in a plastic bag closer to her. The chilled bottle provided little comfort as they entered and were greeted by the almost deafening music coming from a surprisingly spaced out speaker system. Drinking games had been set up on fold up tables in the living room and a few people seemed to have paced themselves poorly for the night, already having had too much to drink despite the early hour.

“Waverly! Babe!” She heard Champ shout across the room, instantly spotting him in the doorway to the kitchen. He came walking towards them, not having gotten very far from the hallway, and he had probably the biggest smile ever plastered on his face.

Waverly gave him a small wave and as he came closer, she gave him a hug. “Happy birthday, Champ,” she said. 

Champ returned the hug, squeezing her tight and almost lifting her off the ground, giving her a wet kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, babe. I was almost getting a little bit worried that you wouldn’t come, you’re like, an hour late,” he said, concern showing in his face.

“Oh, we were at Chrissy’s place before this and we lost track of time a little,” Waverly said, glancing quickly over at Chrissy who had begun talking to some guys Waverly had no idea who they were. “But now we’re here at least, so it’s fine, right?” She gave him her best smile, trying to gauge whether he was actually upset or not.

He looked over to Chrissy and let out an annoyed sigh. “It’s whatever, I’m just glad you’re here now.” He put his hands on her waist and kissed her forehead.

With Champ embracing her and still holding onto the vodka bottle, Waverly realized what she had forgot to bring. “Shit,” she started, which caused Champ to look at her questioningly. “I forgot your birthday present at Chrissy’s.”

“It’s fine, babe, don’t worry about it,” he said, giving her an sympathetic smile. “Despite, there’s another way you could make it up to me.” He pulled her closer and pressed a kiss on top of her head.

The tone of his voice was not demanding, yet Waverly couldn’t help feeling her heart sink in her chest. She subtly tried to loosen herself from Champ’s embrace, giving him a small smile in return. “Haha, yeah,” she managed, albeit awkwardly. “Maybe later.”

As Champ was about to open his mouth to say something, some girls could be heard shouting for him. “Champ! Come back to the kitchen and help us finish these shots!” 

He looked their way quickly before looking back at Waverly. “Sorry babe, but I promised them,” he said with a regretful look on his face. “Catch up with you later?”

Waverly just nodded and he was off. He had the decency to look somewhat sorry for leaving her, but she was more relieved than anything. The prospect of sleeping with Champ still made her nervous after all these years she’d been with him, and the first time being at a house party of his wasn’t exactly the most flattering of thoughts.

Chrissy, who had been hanging around near her and Champ mingling with other people in the meantime, came up to her. “Hey, Waves. Why don’t we give the alcohol you brought a try?” she said, nodding towards the bottle Waverly held.

Brought out of her thoughts, Waverly loosened her deathgrip on the bottle. Chrissy being here certainly helped her relax a little bit, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort that lingered. “Yeah sure,” she said, fidgeting with the bottle in her hands. “Go get us some cups and we can get started.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for Waverly to get more than started. She and Chrissy took three shots each to ‘catch up’ and with the ball rolling, Waverly couldn’t stop. After just two hours, a few lost games of beer pong and an uncountable number of shots later, she could barely walk straight. Chrissy, who had had quite a lot to drink as well but not nearly as much, lead her friend over to a couch.

“Waves, how are you feeling?” she slurred slightly. “You’ve had way too much to drink.”

“Me?” Waverly pointed exaggeratedly at herself. “I’m feeling  _ awesome _ .”

Chrissy gave her a concerned look. “Really? Because by the looks of it, you could barely sit your ass down on this couch without almost falling over.”

Waverly just scoffed at her and subsequently tried to stand up, almost falling over the coffee table in front of the couch in the process.

“Alright, you know what? Let’s go to the bathroom and sober up real quick, yeah? Then we can continue partying all night. By the looks of it-” Chrissy said as she picked up her phone to look at the time- “you’re barely going to make it past midnight.”

She didn’t give Chrissy an answer, but deep down she knew it was probably a good idea, so she followed willingly. Waverly had been to Champ’s house many times, but now when it was dark everywhere and the room was spinning uncontrollably, she barely recognized where she was. She instead opted to let Chrissy lead the way.

They went to the bathroom near the front door, but unsurprisingly it was occupied with a bunch of people in line. Someone had even taken the trash can outside the bathroom to vomit in it.

“Chrissy,” Waverly slurred. “There’s a bathroom on the second floor, probably less crowded.”

Chrissy heeded Waverly’s advice and helped her walk up the stairs. A few people were lounging just up the stairs, all of the rooms on the second floor having their doors closed. Chrissy, who had never been over to Champ’s house except for parties, started opening every door to find the bathroom. The first room seemed to be the parents’ room, with a group of half naked people sitting on the king size bed and playing truth or dare. The second room was just a storage closet, filled with boxes and junk. Chrissy got increasingly frustrated trying to find the bathroom, and Waverly not being much help clinging to her arm. The third door she swung open with full force, loudly shouting “Is this were the fucking bathroom is?” until she realized when she saw who were in the room, that it clearly wasn’t.

The room, which looked like a typical boy’s room who hadn’t gotten rid of all the childish decor yet, was clearly Champ’s. Not only because Chrissy knew that Champ was the only son in his family, but because Champ was in the room on top of someone else. As their entrance hadn’t been subtle, Champ looked back at her, his eyes first filled with anger but then he looked like a deer in the headlights when he saw who they were.

Waverly, who was a little slow on the uptake, looked at Chrissy. “Chrissy, this is Champ’s room, silly, not the bathroom.” As she playfully hit her friend on the arm to then look around the room, her eyes widened in shock when she saw Champ.

“Uh, Waverly, I can explain,” he said, still not moving.

Waverly continued to stand frozen, unable to react. Nobody said or did anything for what seemed like an eternity, the only movement being Chrissy’s eyes going back and forth between Waverly next to her and Champ on the bed. After a while, the girl under Champ, whose face Waverly and Chrissy had been unable to see, spoke up.

“Right, are we just going to be here like this all night or can we continue?” she said as she sat up, causing Champ to shift backwards. The girl who had been underneath Champ was none other than a shirtless Stephanie Jones.

As if Waverly’s eyes could get any wider, they did. She opened and closed her mouth several times, not finding the words. Finally, she let out: “What. The. Fuck.”

Chrissy was shocked, though not equally as much as Waverly. She had had a bad feeling about Champ for a long while now, so something like this unfortunately didn’t seem all that surprising to her. “Waves, let’s just go.” As she tried pulling her friend by the arm, Waverly held her ground, not moving an inch. Looking at her, she could she that Waverly was now fuming.

“You know what Champ? Continue making out with Stephanie fucking Jones for all I care. I’m done. It’s over.” With that, she turned around and practically sprinted out, leaving Chrissy behind.

Champ let his head fall into his hands briefly before groaning and starting to get up off the bed. Chrissy now realized that he also didn’t have a shirt on and that his belt buckle was loose.

“I think it’s best if you stay here, Chump,” she said, giving him a tight lipped smile. “I doubt there’s much you can do to explain yourself.” She left the room and slammed the door shut, running after Waverly. 

The experience must have sobered Waverly up slightly, because Chrissy couldn’t find her anywhere nearby. She checked all the rooms upstairs, to the dismay of many she interrupted, and searched through the entire first floor without finding a trace of Waverly. It was first when she went outside into the cold night air that she found Waverly sitting in a lawn chair, practically pouring down the rest of the vodka down her throat.

“Waverly, what the fuck!” she shouted at her, snatching the bottle from her hand. “What the hell are you doing?”

Waverly just gave her a sad look before turning the other way, vomit spewing from her mouth. After a little while, she turned back towards Chrissy and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “This is what Wynonna does when she feels like shit, but this just makes me feel sick,” she slurred, halfheartedly fumbling after the bottle in Chrissy’s hands.

Chrissy placed the bottle out of reach and kneeled in front of Waverly, rubbing her arms with her hands. “Waves, I think it’s time to go home now,” she said as she grabbed Waverly’s phone, looking for Wynonna’s number. “I’m going to call Wynonna and she’ll come pick you up, okay?” Waverly just nodded, closing her eyes and shivering slightly. Chrissy sighed. This had been one hell of a night, quite literally.


End file.
